Mayor Adams wants to use empty, abandoned office spaces to tackle NYC housing crisis
There's at least 136 million square feet of offices not being used in the city mostly due to remote and hybrid workers, according to Adams.
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Mayor Eric Adams unveiled a new plan Thursday to address the housing crisis in New York City.
Adams announced he wants to turn empty and abandoned office space into places for people to live. His office claims the initiative would create 20,000 new homes for 40,000 New Yorkers. There's at least 136 million square feet of offices not being used in the city mostly due to remote and hybrid workers, according to Adams.
The proposal is to use the space to build a variety of homes, such as supportive housing, shared housing and dormitories.
"It's unbelievable how much empty office space we have sitting idly by with ready and willing participants to develop the housing," Adams says. "We can turn office cubicles into nice living quarters so we can address the housing crisis we have."
The proposal will go into the state review process in 2024. Mayor Adams says the city is going to need help from Albany to complete this vision. It's also going to be up to individual property owners whether or not to turn their empty offices into homes.
